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Pinoys on Chinese ship for just 3 of 6 days of Benham study

February 26, 2018 | 10:00pm

Pinoys on Chinese ship for just 3 of 6 days of Benham study

Weighing 4,711 tons, China Daily described Kexue as a "moving laboratory on the sea" capable of global voyages and all-day observation. China announced in January that the ship would survey waters off the eastern Philippines. Photo from Institute of Oceanology of Chinese Academy of Sciences website, file

MANILA, Philippines — China allegedly violated the terms of permission granted by the Philippines to research in the Philippine Rise, a Senate committee hearing on the issue found on Monday.

According to Cesar Villanoy of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, there were Filipino scientists on a Chinese research vessel given a permit to conduct studies in the Philippine Rise in January 2018 for only three of their six days of stay in the country's exclusive economic zone.

Villanoy explained that MSI was not able to provide the personnel who could join the expedition for its duration as it would take 30 days from its departure to its return to China.

He said that MSI personnel could not join the team for that long as there were no port calls in the Philippines and their scientists had classes to teach.

According to Sen. Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino, this was a violation of the permit granted by the Philippines to the Chinese research team.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said that research teams were required to "take in" Filipino scientists for them to be allowed to research in the Philippine Rise, a vast underwater sea plateau just off the eastern Luzon believed to hold vast amounts of natural resources.

"For every MSR that is approved, they are supposed to take in scientific team, our own team. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to conduct their research," Esperon said during a Senate committee hearing.

Aquino said that Filipino authorities should be more assertive in granting these permits as these studies were done in our territory.

"We are very kind. If our research team is not yet ready, let us have it postponed. It's our territory. It's our prerogative when to have the MSR," he said.

Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary on Maritime and Ocean Affairs Lourdes Yparraguirre said that part of the conditions for the approval of research permits was the presence of Filipino scientists on research vessels.

She said that failure to follow these guidelines could be a basis for the rejection of future requests of teams from the erring countries.

She also explained that the DFA formed a research team that would join the Chinese vessel after Villanoy informed them that he would not be able to go with the expedition.

Yparraguirre said that the picking up and the dropping off of Filipino scientists in Port Irene in Cagayan province might have reduced the number of research days the Chinese had.

Esperon said that the Philippines had approved application for maritime scientific research in the Philippine Rise and the West Philippine Sea from many countries not just China.

He said that the US had the most number of approved applications while China had only around two.

It was recently revealed that China was able to successfully name five features in the undersea plateau after supposed "discoveries" they made in 2004. They submitted the names of these features only in 2014 and in 2016.